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August 31, 2018

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Sensation and More Foodie-Inspired Nuggets…

This & That

Lightlife Foods products now available in Canada!Effective this week plant-based industry leader Lightlife Foods will have its products on Canadian store shelves! Nine of its top-selling SKUs will be available as part of its aggressive plan for growth in a market that now includes hard-core vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians and those simply scaling back their meat consumption (“reducetarians”). The press release names Walmart and Sobeys as a few of the Canadian retailers offering the product, but I hope to see retailers in my wheelhouse (aka natural health food retailers such as Choices and Nature’s Fare here in B.C) join the list. In case you didn’t know, Massachusetts-based Lightlife Foods is owned by Canada’s largest packed meat company Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Lightlife Foods was acquired in 2017 for $140 million (as was Seattle-based Field Roast for a price tag of $120 million). Who would have ever thought that Maple Leaf would be a “plant pusher”? Then again, considering substitute meat sales have increased an average of 9 percent a year (since 2012) – three times the rate of the processed-meat market – it’s no surprise Maple Leaf is positioning itself to be a leader in the meat-free industry. Whatever the impetus, I think this is a good move for the plant-based movement. It translates to improved accessibility and greater visibility.

I haven’t personally tried any Lightlife Foods products but would love to hear from anyone who has! Please comment on this blog post with any recommendations you can share.

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”― Thomas A. Edison

Feature Recipe | Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Sensation

This recipe marries together two of my favourite pasta sauces: basil pesto and creamy sun-dried tomato sauce. Recently I read an article in which sun-dried tomatoes were described as “flavour firecrackers” so I’ll start off by saying this sauce is nothing short of flavourful 😛

This twist on classic basil pesto features fresh minced garlic, fresh basil leaves and oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes paired with two ‘red sauce’ essentials: tomato sauce and cashew-based parmesan. No pine nut or walnuts required. With a few pantry staples (including cashews) on hand you can whip up a deliciously creamy plant-based parmesan cheese (no nooch required!) and have this sauce ready in under 20 minutes.

Wanting to bring a few flavour firecrackers to your next meal? Here’s a few of our family favourites featuring nature’s blistered tomato:

Recipe Notes

*I tested this recipe using oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes only (I prefer them since the oil doubles as a go-to ingredient for sauces and spreads). You can substitute with dry sun-dried tomatoes, but the end flavour may be different.